Weekend Box Office (August 20 - 22, 2004)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND  Exorcist: The Beginning scared enough moviegoers to take the top spot at the box office this weekend, while last weekend's champ, Alien vs. Predator, was shot down in its second go around.  Without a Paddle opened well, Open Water had a successful expansion, and Benji Off The Leash, well, insert your own joke here.

Fans of the terrifying original came out in larger-than-expected numbers this weekend, as the Warner Bros. horror prequel Exorcist: The Beginning took the number one spot at the box office.  Version two, directed by Renny Harlin, scared up $18M this weekend, according to final figures, from 2,803 screens, for an average of $6,440.  Its Friday-to-Saturday decline of 10% does not bode well for the future, but the opening shows that audiences love a good scare, especially from a name brand product.  The original Exorcist was released in December of 1973 and went on to gross an astounding $203M, but don't expect this film to gross anywhere near that amount.  The only question now is, will version one of the prequel, directed by Paul Schrader, see the light of day in theaters, or will it be saved for the DVD?

Debuting in second place was the Paramount buddy comedy Without a Paddle, starring Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Daz Shepard.  The PG-13 tale of three guys on the hunt for the legendary DB Cooper, delivered $13.5M this weekend, with a per screen average of a solid $4,955.

Falling one spot to number three was the Disney sequel, The Princess Diaries 2.  Off a reasonable 43.1% from last weekend, the Anne Hathaway starrer grossed $13M, bringing its total to $61.2M.  Look for the film to end its run flirting with the magical $100M mark.

Crash landing in fourth place was last weekend's number one, Alien vs. Predator.  Down a hefty 67.6%, the battle of the popular creatures took in $12.4M this weekend, bringing its cume to $62.9M.  Its percentage drop was comparable to The Village, which dropped 67.5% in its second weekend.  Look for the final gross of the creature feature to end up in the neighborhood of $80M.

Expanding nationwide this weekend was the real life shark tale, Open Water.  The 80 minute story of two people trapped in shark-filled waters brought in $11.4M this weekend, for a per screen average of $4,213.  Its cume now stands at $14.5M.

In sixth place was the Tom Cruise - Jamie Foxx vehicle, Collateral, which grossed $10.1M, bringing its cume to $69.7M.  In seventh was Matt Damon in The Bourne Supremacy, which took in $6.4M, raising its total to a robust $150.4M.  Its 25% drop from last weekend was the lowest in the top ten.  The first film in the series, The Bourne Identity, had a final gross of $121.6M only two years ago.

Two films in their fourth weekend of release took the eighth and ninth spots this weekend.  In eighth, off 33% from last weekend was the Denzel Washington remake, The Manchurian Candidate, which offered up $4M this weekend.  Its cume now stands at $54.5M.  In ninth place was M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, which was off 48% for a weekend take of $3.7M.  Its total now stands at $107M.

Rounding out the top ten was kid pic Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie, which grossed $3.2M, off 66% from last weekend, bringing its total up to $15.5M.  Just outside the top ten at number eleven was Garden State, which took in $3M, bringing its total to $6.5M, and giving the state of New Jersey some good news this week.  And lastly, debuting far, far away from the top ten was the family dog film, Benji Off the Leash, which barked up $1.5M for a poor per screen average of $1,742.

The top ten films grossed $96M which was up 20% from last year when Freddy vs. Jason remained at number one with $13.2M and up 34% from 2002 when Signs regained the top spot with $14.3M.

Compared to projections, Exorcist: The Beginning opened higher than Gitesh's $12M forecast, while Without a Paddle and Open Water came in on target with his $13M and $12M predictions, respectively.

For reviews of Without a Paddle and Open Water visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, and Suspect Zero all open nationwide.

Marketplace: Shop for videos, DVDs, music, books, and posters at discounted prices using search engines

# Title Aug 20 - 22 Aug 13 - 15 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Exorcist: The Beginning $ 18,054,001 2,803 1 $ 6,441 $ 18,054,001 Warner Bros.
2 Without A Paddle 13,528,946 2,730 1 4,956 13,528,946 Paramount
3 Princess Diaries 2 13,051,560 22,956,453 -43.1 3,490 2 3,740 61,217,735 Buena Vista
4 Alien vs. Predator 12,409,624 38,291,056 -67.6 3,401 2 3,649 62,962,235 Fox
5 Open Water 11,413,017 894,747 1175.6 2,709 3 4,213 14,493,924 Lions Gate
6 Collateral 10,156,357 16,174,309 -37.2 3,029 3 3,353 69,721,408 DreamWorks
7 The Bourne Supremacy 6,469,275 8,600,575 -24.8 2,532 5 2,555 150,393,515 Universal
8 The Manchurian Candidate 4,017,560 6,013,857 -33.2 1,920 4 2,092 54,543,247 Paramount
9 The Village 3,722,806 7,157,635 -48.0 2,249 4 1,655 107,049,072 Buena Vista
10 Yu-Gi-Oh! 3,245,167 9,485,494 -65.8 2,411 2 1,346 15,514,005 Warner Bros.
11 Garden State 3,020,555 1,387,775 117.7 652 4 4,633 6,510,004 Fox Searchlight
12 Spider-Man 2 2,421,434 3,512,027 -31.1 1,343 8 1,803 365,173,462 Sony
13 I, Robot 2,408,877 3,866,317 -37.7 1,609 6 1,497 138,292,990 Fox
14 Napoleon Dynamite 1,787,873 1,756,496 1.8 577 11 3,099 19,111,581 Fox Searchlight
15 Little Black Book 1,517,423 3,784,115 -59.9 1,640 3 925 18,427,929 Sony
16 Benji: Off the Leash! 1,512,000 877 1 1,724 1,541,381 Mulberry Square
17 The Notebook 774,126 1,155,431 -33.0 621 9 1,247 76,295,611 New Line
18 Fahrenheit 9/11 596,499 1,011,855 -41.0 446 9 1,337 116,761,122 Lions Gate / IFC
19 De-Lovely 561,938 691,617 -18.8 317 8 1,773 10,776,149 MGM/UA
20 Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle 489,985 1,404,200 -65.1 401 4 1,222 17,327,672 New Line
Top 5 $ 68,457,148 $ 95,507,887 -28.3
Top 10 96,068,313 119,841,838 -19.8
Top 20 111,159,023 130,596,967 -14.9
Top 20 vs. 2003 111,159,023 92,784,390 19.8

Last Updated : August 23, 2004 at 8:30PM EDT

Gitesh Pandya can be seen each Friday on "The Biz" airing live at 12:30pm ET on CNNfn with replays at 4:30pm and 9:30pm.